The Art of Teaching

I believe that teaching is an art.

What I mean is that there is no one right way to do it. Each educator has their own style, philosophy, personality, interests, level of comfort, level of experience, and access to resources. The diversity of students and their circumstances vastly outweighs the diversity of educators. I have witnessed first hand over my teaching career that it takes a huge diversity of educators and approaches in a school to reach all different kinds of students in all different kinds of ways. The question is, what is “good teaching” and can good teaching be taught?

At its core, I believe that good teaching is about relationships. I think that good teachers build trusting partnerships with students, colleagues, administrators, and parents. They make people feel valued, cared for, supported, and capable. They often create spaces that encourage students to take risks, make mistakes, and to see the world through a variety of different lenses and perspectives. It’s messy, it’s beautiful, and there is no single style that works for everyone, or that can be replicated universally.

Some might argue that the scientific method can reveal evidence-based techniques and practices that maximize results for most students. I believe that a better understanding of brain science and psychology certainly can help teachers find more effective ways of reaching more students. I would argue however that this line of thinking has significant limitations. I believe that the most important limitation to consider is the problem of measuring success in education. Is it test scores? Is it higher order thinking skills? Is it self-esteem and general wellness? Is it your ability to learn new things? Is it career readiness? Is it career success? Is it the reinforcement of a set of values? Is it lifetime happiness? Is it a healthy and functioning society? Some of these can’t be measured. Others aren’t being measured. None is an adequate measure on its own. I think this makes it essential for teachers to ask themselves "what outcomes do I aim to achieve"? Teachers must then accept that many of these outcomes will never be accurately measured and then proceed to feel their way through the art of teaching. I think that good teachers, as with all good professionals, are on a never-ending journey of change, personal growth, and hopefully improvement over their career.

In the end, I’d say that good teaching can’t be taught as some kind of a recipe. Instead, I would say that good teaching can be learned. Pedagogy and teaching practice can be honed through experimentation with new ideas and approaches until some new balance is found that works for the teacher in that moment.

For more about the art of teaching, check out this article from the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.